“Like a lot of my generation, I suffer from what the author Douglas Coupland once called Legislated Nostalgia: essentially, possessing a lot of someone else’s memories. Since a babysitter played me Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band in 1975 I never really recovered. I have shelves full of Beatles books, and a pitifully huge collection of their records. I have followed their trail around Liverpool and Hamburg, and once made a pilgrimage to a supermarket that John Lennon had once owned on Hayling Island (should you be barmy enough to follow suit, the locals are very helpful).

“Moreover, since my mid-20s I have been a happy accessory to the ever-growing Beatles industry. Only last month, I interviewed Paul McCartney for a cover story in Mojo magazine. Having since received all the CDs, I can vouch that they sound immeasurably better than before and the mono versions are occasionally revelatory. And yet, after nearly a month of non-stop Beatles coverage, even I am sick of the sight of them.”